Agenda item

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the QSR for the fourth quarter of 2011/12 (January to March) relating to Environment, Culture and Communities. An overview of the first quarter of 2012/13 will also be provided.

Please bring the previously circulated Quarterly Service Report to the meeting.  The QSR is attached to this agenda if viewed online.

The Panel considered the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of departmental performance as reported in the Quarterly Service Report (QSR) for the fourth quarter of 2011/12 (January to March) relating to Environment, Culture and Communities (ECC).

The Director of Environment, Culture and Communities gave a presentation in respect of the ECC Department’s QSR and Service Plan. The Director thanked Chief Officer of Housing, Simon Hendey, for attending his last ECC Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting as the Housing function now fell under the remit of the Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

As at 31 March 2012, the revenue finance major variances under spend was £1,667,000. There had been major budget changes but no major effect on the funding available to spend as these were mainly technical adjustments. There had been major budget changes in relation to Waste PFI Accounting Entries, Highway Maintenance Capitalisation, IAS19 Person Accounting Entries, Recharges, Capital Charges, Street Cleaning, Bracknell Forest Homes and Additional Works, Highway Maintenance Pot Holes Grant, Supporting People Handyman Grant, and Housing Benefit Initial Claim.

Major variances in revenue had occurred in relation to cemetery and crematorium income, building control, concessionary fares, landscape services, waste management, housing benefit subsidy and administration, and departmental Human Resources. Considerably less funding was being spent on landfill and reserves would be carried forward where possible.

The current budget for 2012-13 was £51,076,000. There was not as much uptake of car park season tickets as companies were seeking alternatives. Current trends included additional income for Coral Reef and reduced income for Downshire Golf Complex. Golf courses nationally were suffering due to the particularly wet and windy weather. Section 106 funding was received intermittently from developments.

The Council’s Executive had agreed to fund £300,000 this financial year on low cost home ownership. Staff vacancies at the Council were fairly static and sickness rates were good at present. Around 30,000 people had turned out to see the Olympic Torch pass through Bracknell on Tuesday 10 July 2012 at approximately 5.30pm to 6pm. The Victorian Fayre due to be held at South Hill Park on Saturday 21 July had been cancelled due to the heavy levels of rainfall making the ground too wet.

Congratulations were given to everyone involved in the roll out of the brown bins in the borough. Machines had been ordered for pay and display car parking and it was expected that these would be installed in September or October 2012. The consultation regarding the Community Infrastructure Levy was being held for six weeks until the end of August 2012.

Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were made:

• £350,000 funding had been spent on pot holes in the borough.
• There were issues with external contracts such as gas works and BT. There was an interface issue as the system Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) used differed from the system external contractors used.
• The use of computers in libraries was an important statistic to measure; as with any service provided by BFC, the uptake of the service was useful to know when planning future service provision. Some of the computers in libraries were old and in need of replacement, and so were not being used as much.
• A Building Control contract had been secured with a major developer which showed that BFC was able to compete with the private sector in this area.
• Research was being undertaken in the area of biomass in order to save money. Potential parties involved were meeting to discuss this further. An aim was to facilitate others to develop a tree station in the borough; it was hoped that plans for this would be finalised this year. The biomass plant at a local supermarket was operational.
• Figures in relation to net additional homes provided annually, the number of affordable homes delivered annually, and the processing of major planning applications were low due to effect of the recession. The targets set were national targets. Jennett’s Park and The Parks were still delivering in relation to these targets but the smaller development sites were not delivering as much. Affinity Sutton Housing Association had taken ownership of some properties at the start of the financial year, affecting the figures in relation to affordable housing.
• The unclaimed carcasses of two abandoned horses had been removed from fields in the borough which was an unusual occurrence.
• The inclement weather had affected the grass cutting and landscaping duties of BFC due to the exceptional growing conditions and difficulty in cutting in wet conditions but this did not have a budgetary impact.
• The number of households currently in bed and breakfast was seven at the time of the meeting. The Housing Department had been able to achieve a reduction in the number of households in bed and breakfast recently by using other temporary accommodation solutions. The target was to keep no more than six households in bed and breakfast.
• Garth Hill College were using a high amount of energy due to the size of the College and the number of pupils attending but there were no conservation issues at the site which BFC was aware of. The matter would be explored and further information provided.